Kazuo Ishiguro — Klara and the Sun
That’s a thinker. It was what I thought when I finished the book. Although the premise was a bit too science fiction-y, I think there is more to the story, once you see it from different perspectives.
The story tells about one Artificial Friend named Klara, who was getting chosen by a sick girl named Josie. It was something that surely might happen in not-so-distance future, seeing a lot has been done to incorporate a better, more intelligent, more human machine.
Coming home, Klara had a certain resistance from Melanie the housekeeper. This I think it represents some resistance we might get from people, some who do not trust the machines. Another thing was when Klara went to see theatre, there were people who confronted, saying why the robot had a seat, reducing the quota of human people. There would be a pro and con, which we all are already aware with the ethics issues in AI, etc.
Along the story, we learned that the purpose of Klara was to someday replace Josie once she succumbed to her illness. A very controversial notion, yet somehow I can understand the mother’s feeling. Having lost a daughter before (Sal, Josie’s sister), she had this longing to save the presence of her now only child. The longing to always having the things we have, the feeling we might call love. But is it right? Is it right, to play god in our life, just for the sake of our happiness? Isn’t experiencing all the gain and loss (actually letting go of something), what makes us whole?
Mr. Capaldi was the mastermind of creating Artificial Humanoid, that had the thinking of nothing makes us special. There was not a single thing in human that we could not replicate. Thus, it would be easy for him, after closed observation of the subject, to replicate and predict the development of the subject.
“There was something very special, but it wasn’t inside Josie. It was inside those who loved her.”
It is the impression and interpretation of our closes that make us special. Their acknowledgment and what us meant to them, is what makes us irreplaceable. A very interesting perception indeed.
